At daybreak, this Monday, November 25, in Avignon, the tension is already palpable. New feminist banners float above the ramparts – “twenty years for everyone” – and in the streets of the city center. It's difficult to ignore that the moment is special and for two reasons: it is not only the world day to combat violence against women, but also a tipping point in the Mazan rape trial, with the requisitions.
If since September 2, this trial has gradually become the trial of male domination, rape culture and patriarchal society, suffice to say that the intervention of the public prosecutor is expected at the turning point, since it does not only carries the voice of the accusation but also represents the interests of society.
Last night, feminists stuck new posters on the walls and banners
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A public ministry with two voices
In view of the issues at stake in this trial that is “extraordinary” in every way, it was therefore not one attorney general but two who stood up this Monday morning before the Vaucluse criminal court: Jean François Mayet and Laure Chabaud embodied this “ public prosecutor in two voices”, for more than four hours in turn. First, Jean François Mayet insisted on the scale of this “extraordinary trial” through a few figures: “59 volumes of judicial information, thousands of reports, and background notes, 50 police custody, so many indictments, without forgetting the examinations, technical expertise, hearings of witnesses, the analysis of some 20,000 photo and video files. But above all 70 men involved in the 200 rapes (100 attributable to Dominique Pelicot alone), 51 of whom could be identified. All in just 31 months, although justice is often criticized for being too slow. »
“A victim under general anesthesia”
And opposite, “a single victim, still inert, her consciousness disconnected, as if under general anesthesia: this was necessary to support these abject acts, aggravated, repeated rapes”, he continued, before saluting the “ courage and dignity” by Gisèle Pelicot.
The past weeks show the importance of this decision so that shame changes sides.”
“Madam, we did not know before this trial, except through the file. We had requested the closed session without knowing your strength of character increased tenfold by this demeaning and degrading crime,” continued the attorney general. “It was you who insisted that the closed session be lifted, that this trial be made fully public,” supports Jean-François Mayet. “You were right: the past weeks show the importance of this decision for the shame to change sides. »
An extraordinary trial, too, with its shock wave, he said. “Far be it from us to obstruct public debate, and societal reflection, on the subject of male domination over women.”
Everywhere in the streets of Avignon, new feminist collages
“Consent was never a subject”
“All the accused went to Mazan to have an easy sexual encounter, after contact on the internet to respond to a desire, where the place of the other was non-existent except that of being reduced to an object. When did they worry about consent? Neither before nor after,” he insisted, adding that “in the wake of this affair, voices were raised to modify the law: philosophers, legal professionals. He concludes: “When it comes to rape, it is high time to move away from stereotypes. »
“After this trial, awareness must continue,” adds the public prosecutor, adding that today, “the societal debate cannot be resolved. It is the legislator who will have to do the work of clarifying consent. The public prosecutor must request fair application of the law, in this extraordinary procedure. And will therefore make extraordinary requisitions.”
Materiality of facts, intentionality
Faced with harsh reality, he can't deny
Laure Chabaud took over, to demonstrate that “the materiality of the facts” was clearly established, in particular via the transcription of Skype and video discussions but also the countless video and photo files. “Faced with harsh reality, he cannot deny, here we are not word against word. Here, we have no account of the facts by the civil party, she has no memory of them, but we have the images, which are worth more than 1000 words and which reveal all the verbal and physical violence. »
Finally, “the intentional element poses no difficulty. Dominique Pelicot has always admitted to having acted without consent, the goal was precisely to impose actions and outfits on her that she refused, to override the refusal, to subdue a rebellious woman. He opted for chemical submission to impose his unfulfilled fantasies as he pleased.”
She then underlined “the high level of criminological dangerousness” of Dominique Pelicot, his “very low capacity for introspection, his emotional coldness, his absence of empathy and his psychorigidity”. Knowing that, still hanging over his head, two other indictments for rape and murder, and attempted rape with weapons for facts dating back to 1991, and 1999. Finally, the attorneys general asked the court to recognize Dominique Pelicot guilty of all the facts and to sentence him to 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
20 years, “a lot and too little”
“It is both a lot, 20 years of a life, 20 years of a man through four walls is not nothing and it is both too little considering the seriousness of the acts committed and repeated. » They also required socio-judicial monitoring for 10 years, and five years of treatment injunctions, and deprivation of eligibility for 10 years. In the afternoon, the requisitions for the 50 other accused will be announced.
